MR. STANZEL: Good morning, everyone. We are on our way to
Wichita, Kansas, where the President will visit the Boys and Girls Club
of South Central Kansas. He will also attend a Roberts Victory
Committee reception. And then we'll be on our way to Crawford and to
the ranch.

I'll go through the President's schedule. I do have the week
ahead. I'll take a few questions -- probably leave the week ahead until
the end.

This morning the President taped the radio address. The topic was
keeping taxes low and restraining spending. One of the ways to curb
federal spending is through earmark reform, so that is also a focus. At
7:25 a.m. this morning, he had his normal briefings. And as you all
know, he made remarks at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast this
morning.

As I mentioned, the visit to the Boys and Girls Club of South
Central Kansas -- it's the 21st Street Club. The Boys and Girls Club
has been providing creative programs for children for more than 100
years, and now serves more than 5 million children every day. And this
particular facility --

Q How many?

MR. STANZEL: Five million --

Q A day?

MR. STANZEL: A day. Boys and Girls Club nationwide.

Q Not this particular one.

MR. STANZEL: That would be a large facility. (Laughter.) But
this is a new facility that the President is visiting. And it's home to
a unique mentoring and educational complex that provides high-risk --
provides high-quality education to at-risk youth, ages 3-18. So the
President will see -- tour the facility and see a number of activities
and classes. And there will be pool coverage of two of the stops that
he will be making.

The President will then attend a Roberts Victory Committee
reception, and Senator Pat Roberts is traveling on Air Force One today,
so that is occurring. And then we arrive in Crawford just before 5:00
p.m. today.

So, with that, I will take your questions.

Q Is he down for the weekend then?

MR. STANZEL: Yes.

Q The latest on Gaza?

MR. STANZEL: As you know, Secretary Rice called President Abbas
yesterday to talk about the current situation and talk about the United
States support for President Abbas and for the Palestinian moderates who
have made the commitment to working with Israel and others in the region
who want peace. We will continue to work with those in the Palestinian
population who have chosen the pathway to peace.

As you know, that choice is being challenged in Gaza by individuals
who have attacked the legitimate security forces of the Palestinian
Authority. And these individuals are trying to extinguish the hopes of
the Palestinian people for their own state.

We believe that the pathway to peace is through the negotiating
table, not through violence, and not through terrorism. President
Abbas, we believe, has exercised his lawful authority as President of
the Palestinian Authority and leader of the people, and we support his
decisions to try to end this violence.

Q How concerned is the President about the prospect of a
terrorist state in the middle of the Middle East? That's obviously been
a focus of his foreign policy, trying to prevent that.

MR. STANZEL: No one wants to abandon the hundreds of thousands, if
not millions of people in the Gaza Strip to the mercies of a terrorist
organization. We're certainly not going to participate in the
extinguishing of the hopes of the whole -- of a whole swath of the
Palestinian population who wants to live in a peaceful, stable,
democratic state. So it's certainly of concern and we will continue to
work with President Abbas.

Q How do you isolate Hamas without alienating or turning your
back on those people you're talking about?

MR. STANZEL: I'm sorry, say that again?

Q How do you isolate Hamas without turning your back on the very
people that you're saying that you want to make sure you help, the
Palestinian --

MR. STANZEL: We will -- one of the issues that has come up is the
training. We do provide support to the forces in -- training and
non-lethal support to the security forces that report to President
Abbas. The State Department is actually looking at that support and
that assistance to see what the best way forward is on that, and
certainly the State Department and officials there have been very active
on this issue, as well.

Q What do you want Israel to do?

MR. STANZEL: I'm going to refrain from getting into speculating
about what we want each and every country in the region to do. But we
support the people in the region who want to have a stable and peaceful
region that can have two states living side-by-side, and get back to the
Quartet process.

Q Is the administration prepared to cede Gaza to Hamas?

MR. STANZEL: As I indicated, no one wants to abandon the hopes of
hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people in the Gaza Strip who
want to live in peace and stability.

Q But what are you going to do, then?

MR. STANZEL: I'll just refer you back to the answer I gave a
moment ago.

Q What about an international force? I think somebody was asked
that yesterday, also -- international force into the region?

MR. STANZEL: Tony Snow answered that yesterday in the briefing,
and I would refer you to his answer.

Q Scott, on immigration, now that you've had a chance to look at
what the Senate announced last night, the leaders, what's your kind of
assessment of the prospects of that legislation? Do you have a better
sense of what's actually in the --

MR. STANZEL: We are encouraged by the announcement of the leaders
last night that immigration reform legislation will be brought back up
for consideration. We are encouraged that there is a bipartisan
majority in the Senate that does support the major components of the
legislation. They've indicated they'll bring it back up. I'll leave it
to them on the timing, exactly, but the President, in his talks with
senators earlier in the week and his remarks yesterday to talk about how
we get that mandatory funding, $4.4 billion for the security triggers --
we think that's an important aspect of what the Senate will be
considering as it's included in the overall proposal.

Q Have you looked at any of the other amendments, because that
seemed to be --

MR. STANZEL: That process is ongoing, and certainly members of the
White House staff, along with Secretaries Chertoff and Gutierrez, are
talking with senators about that. It will be up to the leaders to
decide the specific amendments that are decided and considered, but
we're encouraged by the process and their announcement that it would
move forward.

Q Will the President wait until Libby goes to prison before he
thinks about a pardon or considers a pardon?

MR. STANZEL: I'm going to decline to weigh in to that. As Tony
indicated yesterday, there's a process that's ongoing, so I'm not going
to speculate about that.

Q Back on the Middle East. The President is meeting with Olmert
on Tuesday. What is he going into that meeting expecting to accomplish?

MR. STANZEL: Well, certainly it will be a discussion about the
current situation and the turmoil in the Middle East. As we get closer,
we'll have more to offer about the exact conversation. But that's going
to be an important meeting with Prime Minister Olmert that we look
forward to.

Q Have we looked for additional aid to Fatah on --

MR. STANZEL: You know, I would refer you to the State Department
because they are looking at the different assistance that is provided,
and how we should we proceed from here. I'll refer you to them, because
they're conducting a review of that.

Q Is the President going to be joined by any of his family? I'm
sorry, is the President going to be joined by his daughters for Father's
Day or anyone else --

MR. STANZEL: I'll let you know that. I don't have information on
who will be on the ranch yet.

Q Can we anticipate hearing the President say anything about
either Gaza or immigration today in his remarks?

MR. STANZEL: I'll keep you posted. I don't have anything at this
point.

Week ahead?

The week ahead: The President, on Monday, June 18th, at just after
noontime, the President attends a Republican National Committee luncheon
in Washington, D.C. At 2:05 p.m., he will sign H.R. 1676, which is the
Native American Home Ownership Opportunity Act of 2007. At 4:55 p.m.,
the President will make remarks to the NCAA championship teams on the
South Lawn.

On Tuesday, June 19th, at 9:50 a.m. in the morning, the President
meets with Prime Minister of Israel -- and that's in the Oval Office.
And at 6:30 p.m., the President and Mrs. Bush attend the congressional
picnic on the South Lawn.

On Wednesday, the President participates in a group photo with the
Caribbean heads of government at the State Department. And then at
10:55 a.m., the President will meet with the Caribbean heads of
government, also at the State Department.

On Thursday, the President will make remarks at the Friends of Jeff
Sessions Senate Committee reception. And that is at 5:05 p.m. in
Mobile, Alabama.

On Friday, June 22, the President will meet with the President of
Vietnam in the Oval Office at 11:00 a.m. At 3:00 p.m., the President
will make remarks at a celebration of Black Music Month.

And on Saturday, he has no public events.

On Sunday, June 24th, the President and Mrs. Bush will attend
Ford's Theater Gala. That's obviously at Ford's Theater in Washington,
D.C. And that's a network taping.

And also, a schedule update: On Wednesday, June 27th, the
President will host the White House T-ball game between the teams from
Luray Little League of Luray, Virginia, and the Allegheny County Little
League of Cumberland, Maryland. This will be the first girl's softball
-- T-ball game at the White House, and the 16th T-ball game on the South
Lawn since 2001 --

Q Sixteenth?

MR. STANZEL: Sixteenth, that's correct. And the game will be
honoring women in sports.

Q Scott, when will we see the stem cell bill veto?

MR. STANZEL: I have no updates for you on that.

Q On the radar at all?

MR. STANZEL: It certainly is, but I don't have any information on
when that might be. But we did put out a statement following the
passage.